Cuba: The benefits of participation-strengthening local seed systems

New life for agriculture Much like the economy at large, the Cuban agricultural sector is struggling to survive under diffi cult conditions. Farmers across the island, together with a number of young agricultural researchers, are realizing that necessity is the mother of invention. They are trying to breathe new life into the sector by revitalizing its heart: the seed systems that are the basis for production. In the process, new forms of participation and cooperation have emerged and, through these, new access and benefi t-sharing (ABS) arrangements are evolving-not according to a predesigned plan, but as an expression of guiding principles that are informing the remaking of seed systems. These principles are based on a more fl exible, open and dynamic view of how social change can be brought about.